Dash - Spring/Summer 2007

4/9/7 Too busy

4/22/07: Dash Turns 1.5 Years Old

Dash turned 1.5 Saturday. He's back at day care today, having gotten over another sick 10 days. Sliding at Addison's Birthday Party. Twas good finally get outside.

5/27/07

Hello. Too much work. Dash has not been neglected, though. Work is getting hours, Dash is getting plenty of attention. Everything else is suffering neglect, though.

For instance, this web is one of my favorite things to do, but it's been over a month since any content has been added. We'll catch up with work eventually.

Dash has been a lot of fun. I guess about a month ago he started building a vocabulary past the handful of words he knew: Momma, Dada, Dashpotato, baskeball, crocodile, no, moon.

He of course only can pronounce only maybe half his consonants (oddly it's pretty much the 11 Hawaiian consonants. hmmm...). But that doesn't stop him from babbling on. He know will try to parrot everything. He is also picking up a lot of things from daycare. One example is that he prefers "uno" to "one" and likes "dos" and "seis." We all are very fond of "ocho." Today we asked "Dash where are we going?" "Zoo!" Hard to predict what he knows. He's got a head all his own.

In fact he is starting to mess with us with increasing cunning. "Dash don't eat the sponge." He'll see how close to his month provokes an additional warning.

He climbs on everything and is too fearless. So far no big falls. He runs faster than he should and doesn't look too girly doing it.

I guess he's pretty much a toddler now.

He just completed four weeks of Daycare without having to take off due to cold or flu. He's had persistent diarrhea, though, but is putting on weight (26 pounds now) and is happy and energetic.

Okay. Night, night.

Monday, May 28, 2007

Couple fun things that I don't want to forget:

Dash has been trying to jump for a while and isn't so go at it. Half the time he does catch air (both feet up at the same time), the other half he staggers or wipes out. I did manage to get some video, which is good because he'll probably be competent and not funny very soon.

Do you know what chins are for? Dash knows what Daddy's is for: for jamming into Dash ribs (an urgent buzzing noise adds to the effect). Today, while holding him I tricked him by asking "How big is Dash?" Pavlov's toddler raise his arms, exposing the ribcage. Buzzz. Violent laughter for 10 minutes. Much initiated by Dash. Raising his arms to tempt me. Fun boy.

Also Saturday the water was too cold but the tide was low and we did pick up some sea shells and a couple sand dollars. He wasn't overly impressed, not realizing that they're made by animals rather than the Chinese.

Kitchen clean up and bed time.

G'night.

6/17/07.

Much to post, but I don't really see an opportunity prior to July when my Colorado DOT deadline will be relaxed, if not abandoned. But I do want to post this picture: Dash finally learned to make that popping sound with his mouth. It adds zest to blowing kisses. That kiss left his mouth a half second ago and he's caught in the follow though, his arm and hand extend beyond the frame.

Twas great to see almost the entire Martin side of the family (Chris truant). Dash had a blast. Copied a bunch of DVD's of the visit, expect them in the mail soon. Will post pictures eventually.

hasta!

Which celebrity does Dash look like? click here

7/8/7. Had a nice visit from Anna Marie who is doing some business in the area next week. We went to the zoo.

Compare this recent Giraffe feeding to the first one almost a year ago (click here).

8/12/07: Apparently it's getting so that I only post pictures that I edit for my Windows background. I'll try to be better. Dash heading down the water slide a few weeks ago. He's (a little too) fearless.

August 18, 2007

Saturday morning, 9/8/07

End of Summer. Sea World and the Zoo go back to short hours. We used them well for the summer.

Dash is at such a fun age. A little boy, not a baby. Awing us constantly with what he can do and what he shouldn't do and what he knows. So many really cool things that I'm going to forget by not writing them down. So even though I have to get to work right away, I have to share:

He shocked me the other day when after I read him a "Roaring Rockets" book (Apollo technology, "manned" by a bunny, a rat (er, mouse) and, of course, a chicken (his favorite)) I wanted to show him a video of the shuttle taking off. The NASA home page has a ton of graphics all over it, I'm looking for the video link, Dash immediately points out and says "Saturn!" My jaw drops. "How the heck do you know that? You're not even two!"
It seems like only last week he started using adjective-noun combos and possessive pronouns. Wednesday it seems like he figured out sentences, running to the toy chest saying "I'll get it." Last night after a meal at "Souplantation" he went for the sippy cup in the van: "I'll get it" following immediately with "I got it" once he did. Leigh and I looked at each other with that "No f'ing way" look. Tenses?
Every little interaction shows an understanding of things incrementally invalidating his "baby" stats. It is just amazing being around the kid. At first the infant is a miracle and the baby a joy, he's definitely in the wonder phase, where his growing mind is making the jaw drop regularly.

Okay, I gotta get to work (gotta finish up a Kentucky DOT Training Manual, finish designs for the back yard terracing, and get the new jobs' software set up (this takes weeks, and I have to stay ahead of the young engineers who will start using it next week) and start setting up the engineering modeling). blahblahblah. And at some point I got lots of pictures to post of the boy.

Tuesday Night, 9/11/07:

Dash's 2nd molar is just starting to poke through. Two more to go... We're hoping he'll get over his cold so that we can take him to the ocean before it gets too cold.

He has a funny little habit. He'll occasionally, when acting up, whack you. He'll then say "I'm sorry, Daddy [or Mommy]. I love you, Daddy [or Mommy]" while patting and kissing where he hit you. It's really cute. Now if can get him from hauling off and whacking us...

I took him to Sea World Sunday to kill a little time. The great thing about a season pass is that you really don't have to see or do anything specific. The "Forbidden Reef Caverns" is an underground tank with a bunch of Moray Eels. It's about sixty feet long with ramps about 120 feet long on either end. Both have a right-angle turn about half way up and the bottom half is pretty dark. Dash has very little interest in the eels, but loves the ramps. He spent 40 minutes (no exaggeration) running up and down the ramp. I had to follow him closely the whole time so that he wouldn't smack into people as he took the turn in the ramp. It's a great combination of ramp and tunnel (his favorite part of Green Eggs and Ham is the tunnel ("I would not, could not in the dark!"). He was so worn out afterwards he actually sat still during the Sea Lion and Otter show, fascinated.

Thursday Night 9/27/07:

Dash on the patio -->

He's lot of fun to talk to now. He surprises you with the content sometimes.

For a while now when I put him in his crib for the night he'll say "Daddy, sing." He still works me very often, fussing to stay up or have me stay in the room while he falls asleep.

Tonight he did it, I started singing "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star" to the music-playing crib-mounted Turtle. He said "Daddy, sing 'Hush Little Baby.'" Jaw drop: 1) he has a preference and 2) he was able to express it.

At Sea World last week we said "Daddy ride roller coaster again?" That's a lot of syllables.

Last Sunday we went down to the bay so that he could ride his tricycle. I had also bought him a kite, which after some doubt on his part he walked around with it flying around. I got it on video but no snapshots. Leigh and I enjoyed the ninety minutes immensely.